Why all the China fuss about the Uighurs? As a purely secular state, China has shown repeatedly that it has no interest in any specific religion, whether Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam. Are the Uighurs a particular source of extremism or terrorism? To a great degree, no.
What is it, then? I think China desires to promote a uniformity among its population, and any departure from that uniformity is threat to the state. The Uighurs are an isolated, separate people group, which is deemed incompatible with the goals of a strong, centralized state.
As a consequence of this view, the Uighurs are undergoing remarkable persecution with internment camps and “disappearances”, all for the purpose of eliminating them or forcing their integration into the mainstream of Chinese life.